Malaysia’s Westports kicks off $630m IPO

Malaysian port operator Westports Holdings Bhd started taking orders on September 19 for a $630 million initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for October 18. The IPO is expected to be one of the country’s biggest share sales in 2013 so far.

Westports said in a statement that it was offering 813.2 million shares at a price of up to 2.50 ringgit ($0.77) each.

Westports manages the shipping terminal at the country’s main port of Klang and is partly owned by Asia’s richest man, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. Up to 710.9 million shares will be offered to institutional investors, while the rest has been earmarked for the public.

The company said the offering had already attracted nine cornerstone investors to buy up almost half of the institutional offering.

Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third largest economy was among the world’s IPO leaders in 2012 with several major listings led by palm-oil giant Felda Global Ventures, which raised US$3.25 billion. But it has drawn few large public offerings in 2013 as investors were awaiting the results of a general election in May. The election was won by the long-ruling Barisan Nasional, promising continuity, but markets across Asia turned jittery amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve would unwind stimulus measures, causing investment to leave the region.

Another major IPO will be Malaysia’s state-backed conglomerate UMW Holdings that plans to raise up to $720 million by selling part of its oil and gas unit in an initial public offering by the year’s fourth quarter.

Malaysian port operator Westports Holdings Bhd started taking orders on September 19 for a $630 million initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for October 18. The IPO is expected to be one of the country’s biggest share sales in 2013 so far.

Westports said in a statement that it was offering 813.2 million shares at a price of up to 2.50 ringgit ($0.77) each.

Westports manages the shipping terminal at the country’s main port of Klang and is partly owned by Asia’s richest man, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. Up to 710.9 million shares will be offered to institutional investors, while the rest has been earmarked for the public.

The company said the offering had already attracted nine cornerstone investors to buy up almost half of the institutional offering.

Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third largest economy was among the world’s IPO leaders in 2012 with several major listings led by palm-oil giant Felda Global Ventures, which raised US$3.25 billion. But it has drawn few large public offerings in 2013 as investors were awaiting the results of a general election in May. The election was won by the long-ruling Barisan Nasional, promising continuity, but markets across Asia turned jittery amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve would unwind stimulus measures, causing investment to leave the region.

Another major IPO will be Malaysia’s state-backed conglomerate UMW Holdings that plans to raise up to $720 million by selling part of its oil and gas unit in an initial public offering by the year’s fourth quarter.